Chris White Tech Reporter July 06, 2020 12:21 PM ET
A federal judge Monday ordered the shut down of the Dakota Access Pipeline while federal regulators conduct a review of the multi-billion dollar pipeline.
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and three other Native American tribes requested the shutdown, arguing that the pipeline harms the environment and tramples on tribal lands. North Dakota officials believe shuttering the pipeline could damage the state’s economy, which is highly dependent on gas and oil production.
The pipeline has been shipping North Dakota oil to Illinois for the past three years. President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders in 2017 advancing the construction of the pipeline, along with another oil project that former President Barack Obama scuttled in 2015.
Trump asked the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline to resubmit its application for a cross-border permit bringing oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries. (RELATED: Here’s The Actual Text Of Trump’s Executive Orders On Keystone XL, Dakota Pipelines)
Obama argued that approving the pipeline would tarnish the U.S.’s image as a global warming crusader. He blocked the Dakota Access Pipeline in November 2016 shortly before leaving office for similar reasons.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who is overseeing Standing Rock’s lawsuit, ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in March to complete a full review. The pipeline’s future has been in limbo ever since, stuck between an activist-led lawsuit that threatens to disrupt the flow of oil and a presidential decree keeping the project online.
“Given the seriousness of the Corps’ … error, the impossibility of a simple fix, the fact that Dakota Access did assume much of its economic risk knowingly, and the potential harm each day the pipeline operates, the Court is forced to conclude that the flow of oil must cease,” Boasberg wrote in his opinion Monday.
The judge acknowledged that the move “will cause significant disruption to DAPL, the North Dakota oil industry, and potentially other states.”
Boasberg is directing the Army Corps of Engineers to complete a thorough Environmental Impact Statement on the pipeline, which could take upward of 13 months to complete and is more time consuming than the Environmental Assessment the corp completed before the project was completed.
The Dakota Access Pipeline carries more than half-a million barrels of oil across the country, representing roughly 40% of North Dakota’s daily productive capacity before the pandemic resulted in an oil crunch and economic destruction, according to a Monday report from the Bismarck Tribune.
Supporters of the project lashed out at the judge Monday, with Grow America’s Infrastructure Now (GAIN) spokesman Craig Stevens hitting Boasberg’s decision to “side with environmental activists to shut in our nation’s critical natural resources.”
“While we are disappointed with the judge’s decision, the GAIN Coalition is hopeful that common sense will prevail and this decision will be stayed or overturned,” Stevens wrote in a press statement addressing the move. “We remain confident the Corps’ additional review will affirm its previous findings on DAPL.”
Activists and members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe staged months of protests against Energy Transfer Partners, the company building Dakota Access, and law enforcement officials. The demonstrations gained celebrity support even while turning violent at times.
Executive Orders apparently cannot be undone without adequate process. Pipeline approvals should receive the same standard of logic.
Judge Boasberg should be told that turning off the pipeline cannot be done without adequate process (and that his opinion alone is not adequate to satisfy that process). Somebody needs to pay for an environmental assessment, showing that the “OFF” is safer than the “ON”. Those that brought the issue to the court should have to show that trucks & trains are safer than pipeline before allowing or requiring “OFF”.
“We cannot turn off the pipeline until we are shown that the outcome is not only safe, but SAFER”
Let the fracking bastards freeze in the dark!
Lets see what the appeals court says about a lower judge rescinding prior valid Federal permits for a currently operating facility, David.
They just hope to delay it to make it more expensive and maybe long enough for the next Dem president to stop it.
The Army Corps of Engineers should ask the judge who’s responsible for any environmental damage caused by the 48,000,000 pounds of garbage left by the protesters claiming to care for the environment.
Brian, that pile of garbage in completely 100% the full responsibility of one person. Barrack Obama. The pipeline was 100% approved and he personally had the Corps permit rescinded in catering to his “green” base , and oh boy did they respond in spades! We the people voted for that blight on the presidency and we’re still paying the price for that folly….and will continue to for decades as we suffer under the like minded judges he appointed. Sad.
Buffet strikes again. He funded the Canadian protests and he’s funding Standing rock. Note that 25% of the oil in DAPL comes from Indians. Just look at the map of the Bakken and you can see their reservation. With Google Earth you can see all the oil wells on their land.
Anyhow, once the pipeline is shutdown Buffet will get to run his death trains again.
JamesD, spot on. The Fort Berthold Indians love Bakken crude for the $millions every year from royalty payments. Hundreds of oil wells extending under the flooded Missouri River. Standing Rock Indians don’t have any oil production, much to their chagrin I’m sure, hence the BS about the environment. Follow the money.
JamesD, spot on. The Fort Berthold Indians love Bakken crude for the $millions every year from royalty payments. Hundreds of oil wells extending under the flooded Missouri River. Standing Rock Indians don’t have any oil production, much to their chagrin I’m sure, hence the BS about the environment. Follow the money.